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WASHINGTON – The Biden administration on Wednesday unveiled plans to begin offering COVID-19 booster shots this fall for Americans who received the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines, eight months after they become fully vaccinated, as cases of the delta variant continue to spread across the country.  

Americans who are eligible can receive a third shot beginning Sept. 20, pending authorization

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorized a second booster dose for people age 50 and older of the two most commonly used COVID-19 vaccines, citing data showing waning immunity and the risks posed by Omicron variants of the virus.

Reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey and Manojna Maddipatla in Bangaluru, Additional reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington;

Moderna Inc. MRNA 16.13% said it will on Monday ask U.S. and European health regulators to authorize use of the company’s Covid-19 vaccine, after it was shown to be 94.1% effective in a full analysis of a pivotal study.

The timing keeps the vaccine on track to become possibly the second to go into use in the U.S. by year’s end—after one already under regulatory review from Pfizer Inc.

The mRNA COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna have been shown to be safe and effective, both in clinical trials and in numerous studies conducted since their release. Vaccine safety monitoring systems have worked as expected to identify a few rare serious side effects, but evidence shows that the benefits of vaccination continue to outweigh any potential risks. 

COVID-19,